John looked towards the source of the voice, and noticed an Elder sitting at a desk completely similar to the Elder downstairs. In fact, the room was almost identical to the one below.
"I'm here to look at some Core Formation Battle arts, namely the Heavenly Lightning Domain, Thunderflash Steps, and Lightning Ruin," John replied, getting straight to the point.
The Elder in charge looked John up and down for a moment, and frowned.
"These techniques are incredibly expensive for a Qi Condensation first year."
"I know. Can you tell me which section contains those techniques?" John asked once again.
The Elder, noticing John's undeterred expression, pointed over to a corner of the room. "All three techniques can be found over there."
"Thanks."
John walked over to the identified section, and began to peruse through the scrolls. After a short while, he found the Core Formation portions for all three techniques.
"How many spirit crystals for these?" John asked the Elder as he set the scrolls down in front of him.
"Thirty thousand spirit crystals for the Heavenly Lightning Domain, nine thousand for the Thunderflash Steps, and fifteen thousand spirit crystals for Lightning Ruin," the Elder replied.
John raised his eyebrows in slight surprise.
'The price tripled between realms. That's quite a bit, but still not a problem.'
A large pile of spirit crystals suddenly appeared in the air above John and the Elder. There was not enough room on the table for the large pile of crystals, and so John used his essence Qi to hover the crystals in the air above the two of them.
The Elder waved his hand, and the spirit crystals disappeared. Although he was quite surprised that John was able to bring out such a sum of money, he said nothing about it.
"You know, you should really buy a lot of cheap spatial rings and use them to transfer wealth, instead of doing what you just did," the Elder commented.
John did that when he had spare spatial rings, but had run out recently and hadn't obtained anymore. The scrolls were placed in his spatial realm, and John thanked the Elder for advice before leaving the library.
'Although I'm sure there's a lot of interesting things to read in the library, I unfortunately do not have time for that right now. Every bit of free time I have needs to be spent on cultivating. I can always come back later.'
John immediately set off to return to his home atop the mountain, eager to start training the three techniques he had just obtained.
After a long walk, he arrived at his house and walked directly inside and towards the basement. He greeted Reya and Francel and told them not to disturb his cultivation for any reason unless it was an extremely important matter, before heading downstairs. He entered the meditation chamber and sat down.
After calming his mind, a scroll appeared in his hands. John unfurled it, and his eager eyes began to read its contents as he fell into a meditative trance.
...
In another part of the Heavenly Lightning Sect, in a large luxurious house at the top of a majestic mountain, a fifteen year old boy with long silver hair sat in silent meditation.
A knock suddenly appeared on the door, startling him out of his cultivation. However, instead of being upset at the sudden interruption, a look of slight anticipation appeared on his face.
"You may enter," the boy called out loud, and a young girl quickly entered the room.
"Lord Hunter, I have finished gathering the requested information regarding the boy with the lightning attribute body," the girl stated.
"Oh? And?" The boy asked.
"He's just entered the sect as a first year, and has already made quite a splash within the sect. He finished the entrance exam in first place, and also seems to have the direct support of Elder Ragur."
"Elder Ragur? He's only a Meridian Forging Elder and can be ignored. What else?"
The girl cleared her throat before continuing. "He's also joined the War Hall, and-"
"War Hall? He's a first year, how could he join the War Hall?" the boy cut off the girl and asked.
"According to rumors, he directly attacked the Vice Sect Leader, and was punished to the Crypt for three days. However, the Vice Sect Leader also allowed him to live and enter the War Hall, although no one knows why," the girl replied.
A frown appeared on the boys face.
"Anything else?"
"That's all I could find out about him," the girl replied.
The room remained silent for a moment as the boy fell into contemplation.
"You may leave."
The girl bowed and left the room, leaving him there alone.
"If any issues arise regarding Elder Ragur, my master can easily handle that. However, there are still two problems. His placing as first in the entrance exams has given him an elevated position within our Sect, and so doing anything to him now surely won't go unnoticed. Not only that, but he may potentially have some unknown connection with the Vice Sect Leader…"
If John truly did have the support of the Vice Sect Leader, then he would most likely be untouchable. The boy trembled at the thought of getting on her bad side, as he knew even his master would not want to offend her. However, although the situation had become more complex, a determined look appeared on the boys face.
"I'll have to proceed with caution it seems…"
…
A week later, several loud booms continuously echoed out from John's basement. After a long time, the sounds finally subsided. John eventually emerged from the basement, looking quite tired and worn.
He took off his robe and put on some swimwear before hopping into the relaxing outdoor pool.
"Ah, that's the stuff," John sighed out loud as he relished in the relaxing feeling of the pool. The soothing water revitalized his diminished Qi reserves, and also healed the small amount of wounds on his body.
"You're finally out," a voice suddenly called out to John.
John opened his eyes and saw Reya standing on the opposite side of the pool, staring at him.
"Finally out? How long was I down there for?" John asked in a slightly confused manner. When he entered his meditative trance, John lost track of time, and so he wasn't exactly sure how long he had been down there.
"It's been seven days. You've missed the entire week of classes," Reya replied.
"Seven days?" John exclaimed in slight surprise. "What were the classes about? Did anyone drop off reading materials?" John asked.
"They did. I left them on your bed upstairs," Reya confirmed.
"Thanks, I'll take a look at them tonight."
Although it was unfortunate that he missed the classes, John wasn't too concerned. Most of the early classes seemed to be about teaching the basics regarding lightning, and John's unique cultivation situation allowed him to skip those basics.
However, he was curious about other things, such as the medicinal ingredients and pill classes. The reading materials would make sure he did not miss any important information.
"You came out just in time. Another day and I would have had to come down there," Reya suddenly stated.
John was about to ask what was so important in a day, when he suddenly remembered his fight with Russell.
"I almost forgot, my fight is tomorrow, isn't it?" John asked Reya for confirmation.
"That it is. It's the talk of the entire first year class, and even some of the older disciples are paying attention. You can't miss it."
A battle between two of the top first years was sure to draw many curious eyes to it. Not only that, but John had developed a special status amongst the disciples. His lower cultivation but high combat prowess, alongside his crazy disregard for his own life in attacking the Vice Sect Leader made many very curious about him.
"Thanks for the reminder, I'll be sure to make it," John replied as he once again closed his eyes and focused on healing.
After fully healing, John went to his upstairs bedroom, changed clothes, and collapsed on his bed. He began to read the scrolls that were left there, and he soon drifted into a deep sleep while reading.
…
The next morning, John woke up to the sound of knocking at his door. He wearily rubbed his eyes, and walked over to the door.
"It's quite late already. Breakfast is ready for you in the kitchen," Francel greeted John.
"Thanks, I'll be down soon."
John closed the door and prepared himself for the day. He walked to his wardrobe, and put on one of his War Hall robes. A brief inspection in the mirror satisfied John, as he felt comfortable to be back in his most liked colors of black and red.
John then ate a hearty breakfast before he left for the Martial Arenas. His fight was scheduled before noon, and the walk to the arena took quite some time. The breathtakingly scenic route awed him as he leisurely walked over to the Martial Arena's, eventually arriving there an hour later.
Despite being earlier in the day, the martial grounds were incredibly lively, and thousands of disciples could be seen walking about. Many fights were taking place in the arenas at all times, making it one of the most lively areas of the entire sect.
"John, you're here!" A familiar voice called out, and John soon spotted Adam standing at the front entrance to the martial grounds.
"Hey," John greeted as he approached Adam.
"Hey my ass. Where have you been the last week? Although your attendants said you were training, a rumor began to circulate that you had left the sect out of fear of fighting Russell."
Adam looked quite displeased as he told John about the rumor, as if he was the one being insulted, causing John to chuckle slightly.
"Well, it's only a rumor. I'm here, aren't I?"
"I guess so, anyways, let's head inside. Your fight starts soon," Adam replied.
John nodded his head and followed behind Adam. He was unsure of exactly which of the many arenas he was fighting in, and Adam seemed to know the way. A while later, the two of them arrived at one of the larger arena's, and entered through the lower tunnel after passing verification by an Elder guarding the entrance.
A boisterous cacophony of sound began to fill John's ears as he walked through the deep tunnel into the heart of the Arena. Bright sunlight shone on his face as he finally entered the arena, and a large stadium full of disciples entered his vision.
"Wow, that's quite a few people," John commented as he took in the sight. He had not expected his fight to attract so many people.
"Ten thousand of them, all here to watch your fight," Adam replied in a proud tone, as if he was the one who had drawn the crown here.
However, his embellishment of the facts regarding John's run in with the Vice Sect Leader did elevate John's position by a bit, causing many more disciples to want to see what John was about. Nearly all of the many thousands of first years, as well as a few thousand second and third years had shown up to watch the fight.
"HAHAHA, you're finally here, now we can finally fight!" A loud and boisterous voice boomed out.
John turned to the source of the voice, and spotted Russell standing at the opposite end of the large arena. John briefly inspected Russell, and noticed that his strength had increase by quite a bit since he had last seen him. His muscular body seemed to be bursting with power.
'Half-Step Core Formation? It seems like I'm not the only one who has made great improvements.'